


Across Space and Time

by TinySprite



Category: Dragon Ball, dragon ball z abridged
Genre: Cheesy pun, M/M, Soul Bond, Soul mate, soul mark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-18
Updated: 2017-03-18
Packaged: 2018-10-07 07:52:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10355652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TinySprite/pseuds/TinySprite
Summary: a soul will reach.Just something cute for Saiyan Day; please forgive the cheesy title.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Hey all! I found out last night that today is Saiyan Day so here, have a one-shot!
> 
> Chapter warnings: Not much really, some slight bad language, a bit of insinuated abuse/neglect, and some pining.

**Disclaimer:** Dragon Ball Z is owned by Akira Toriyama and Funimation. Only the plot is mine and I make no money from this.

Note: This is based on the DBZ Abridged Broly movie put out by Team Four Star. Please watch and support their work. It's hilarious.

Note 2: Multi-Verse Theory was my unexpected friend in this. Just a fun one-shot made for Saiyan Day!

///// = scene change

(-----)

It starts when Trunks returns to the future the first time.

Technically, it must have started while he'd been talking to Goku, but Trunks had still been riding high on the excitement of not just killing Freeza but also King Cold **_and_** finally meeting both his father Vegeta (despite the...disappointment that brought about) as well as the legendary warrior Goku.

But once he got home and calmed down, both from the excitement of his accomplishments and the unexpected 'Are you kidding me?!' anger of his mother explaining about multi-verse theory, Trunks can no longer ignore it: there's a strange itching on his left shoulder, somewhere between a mild sunburn and outright scratches.

Once they're safely back home in the Capsule Corps compound, Trunks hesitates, then tells his mother about it. She's obviously concerned and drags him to their medical room to check it out. He doesn't fight her, worry after worry flying through his head about what this could possibly be.

Sitting on one of the medical room's stools and pulling first his jacket then his tank top off with a soft hiss, Trunks drops them onto the nearby desk and turns to look at his shoulder to find the cause and is shocked to see what it is: dark lines forming on his skin, faint at the moment but slowly darkening as they solidify into shapes. Bulma makes a shocked noise and leans in quickly, her gloved hands delicately touching his skin, the fingers of one hand following the formed and forming lines almost in disbelief.

She doesn't need to say it outright, but the shocked words still come from her mouth, “Trunks, I think this is a soul mark.”

The teenager gulped hard, his eyes involuntarily flicking to his mother's own mark; it was placed on her left hand and wrist, a bracelet of black loops and swirls that were intermittently dotted with gold lines and red drops. Though it was distorted by the medical glove at the moment, Trunks knew her mark continued onto the back of her left hand to make a stylized version of the symbol of the Saiyan royal household, outlined in gold and flared in red. She'd described his father's to Trunks as well many times in the past: a similarly placed version that was hard lines and jagged edges that led into the symbol of Capsule Corps. Though apparently his had been mainly dark blue and edged with black and silver in color.

Like many, his parents had been born with their marks, though neither had known what the symbols meant until they'd finally met. Unlike them, Trunks hadn't been born with his and had assumed, as was, normally correct, that he wasn't supposed to have a soul mate. To gain one later in life....it was rare but not unheard of....

Looking at his shoulder again, Trunks frowned and mentioned, “It...doesn't look done?”

Bulma frowned as well and moved her hands over what was there of the mark. Like her son had said, the mark seemed oddly unfinished; the main part that covered most of his left shoulder was dark and well-formed but the lines leading outwards faded in color and grew ever fainter until they vanished back into his skin. Tapping her fingers over the mark, Bulma finally sat back and chewed her lower lip in thought.

After a moment, she finally said, “I think they're in the past.”

Trunks looked at her and made a confused sound. His mother pointed at his shoulder and explained, “Look, that obviously wasn't there when you left and it was partially formed by the time we saw it here; so unless your soul mate was _just born_ in this time, which I think would mean you'd get a full mark over a partial one, then chances are high that whoever your soulmate is exists in the past.”

She reached forward again to rub her thumb gently over one unfinished line, “It'd explain why it stopped forming, kind of. If they don't exist here in our time, then there's no reason for the mark to be there.”

Bulma winced and quickly looked at her son to apologize, “I'm sorry Trunks! I didn't mean for it to sound that cold!”

He gave her a sympathetic look and patted her hand on his shoulder, “I-it's okay, Mother. I mean, that makes sense.”

Gulping, he looked again at his mark, trying to puzzle out what the unfinished lines were forming, and asked, “So...who is it then?”

His mother gratefully took the subject change, frowning again at his mark as she spoke, “Well, it's not Yamcha's, Goku's, or Krillin's, or even Tien's, I can tell you that much. I never saw Chiaotzu's mark but I swear I heard him mention a wife once, and I don't think Piccolo's people do soul marks. If they do, then I never saw his either. And it's not any of my friends from school or work or elsewhere.... If it's not them then...honestly I couldn't tell you, sweetie.”

Trunks swallowed his disappointment and nodded, not sure what to say at the moment. Swallowing hard, he turned to his mother and said with false brightness, “Well, I guess I'll find out in about eight months, right Mom?”

She smiled back at him, a little sadly, and nodded in agreement. They didn't speak any more of it and later that night, well after she'd finally gone to bed, Trunks hesitantly examined his unfinished mark in the bathroom mirror. From the finished part, it seemed like it was going to cover most of the front part of his left shoulder and expand downwards towards his pectoral.

The mark was mostly black lines that seemed to form stylized stars, some sharp and well-defined, others softer and more swirly. There were hints of gold here and there, either outlining a star shape faintly or just softly dashed alongside the other lines. The biggest bit of gold was the strangest: a faint oval that seemed to 'drip' from the bottom point of the biggest of the well-defined stars, a neatly centered one that was positioned a few inches above his heart. There was also a circle in the center of the gold oval, very faintly colored blue, and he had to wonder what it meant.

//////////

…..His wrist itched.

Broly waited until his father was gone from their current hide-out, then undid the bracer on his left arm to see what was going on. To his shock, an image was forming on the back of his left wrist and forearm: a strange elongated form of two stretched and reflected triangles that touched at their tips. A casing of sorts enclosed them and there...seemed to be another image beneath it? Like a second form of the first, but the triangles in that one were broken it seemed, spilling out silver that slid over the rest of his left wrist. Above the odd double-image, on the back of his hand, a thin little crown formed, silver again with a faint purple stone in the middle.

There seemed to be more but it wasn't forming and he couldn't puzzle out what the partially finished lines could mean.

Broly stared at it for what felt like hours and likely had been; when he finally dragged his attention away from the mark to hide it back beneath his bracer upon hearing his father return, Broly's throat was dry, his stomach ached, and he felt dizzy. Thankfully all his father did was chide him and give Broly a container of water and a rations pouch.

Broly didn't know much, but he did know about soul marks. Part of him wanted to show it to his father, curious if his father could help him puzzle out some of the odder images and maybe help figure out who Broly's soul mate was meant to be. Another part was highly wary; Father had put that odd device on him after all, the one that gave him headaches and _hurt_ and sometimes he'd...forget...spans of time. What would Father do if he found out that Broly had a matching half somewhere?

So no, for now he'd keep quiet about it. After a while, after Broly had spent some time on this odd new challenge himself, then he'd tell his father.

….maybe...

//////

When the eight months had passed and Trunks went back, he was admittedly rather nervous about it all. Not only was he going to fight the androids alongside some of the greatest warriors on Earth, but given that his mark had started to itch again once he was back in the past and therefore proved his mother's theory right, there was also a decent chance he was finally going to meet his soul mate!

But then the revelation of the new androids, the increased strength of the androids that Trunks had _actually_ meant, and then freaking **_Cell_** happened and it all went to shit. By the time it became clear he wasn't leaving for the future any time soon and accepted his past-time line mother's offer to stay at the past Capsule Corps, Trunks was too tired to even care anymore about soul marks or mates or whatever.

He'd even slept straight through the itch of his mark finishing itself.

But when he'd gotten up in the morning and seen it in the guest room's mirror, Trunks held off on breakfast to look at his finished mark.

As he'd first thought, the finished shape was mostly on his front, though there were odd almost flare like marks on the top of his shoulder, strange spaces of some sort like something was supposed to fit there. The mark itself was again mostly made up of various kinds of stars, both well-defined and then those odd swirly ones. There was more gold now, again either dashed throughout the lines or outlining some of the stars, though some of it towards the edge of his mark gained an odd greenish tinge that was confusing.

The oval bit was now better defined: a solid gold color with a blue circle in its middle. It was the lowest part of his mark and nearly lay over his heart, which felt oddly overly romantic somehow.

Blushing a little at his own thoughts, Trunks raised a hand to delicately run his fingers over the lines. Stars....did that mean that his soul mate worked with them? An astrologist maybe? An astronaut? A really, really involved star observer? Or could it mean that they were _in_ space? If that's what it meant, then was Trunks' soul mate even human?

Groaning with annoyance at himself, Trunks firmly put those thoughts out of his head for now and moved to finish getting ready for the day; they only had ten days before the Cell Games! He couldn't afford to be distracted by anything right now, not even a hint of a soul mate.

Though, later, he did secretly check his baby self out of curiosity to see if Baby Trunks had a mark. He did: a blurry image of something orange and yellow on his side; it'd become better defined when he got older but it was there and caused an unexpected sting in the future teen's heart. So his past self had someone, but _he_ hadn't?

Trunks frowned to himself and firmly put a mental foot down. It was stupid to be jealous of a literal baby and again, he had better things to focus on! If not the Cell Games, then Korin and Yajirobe's upcoming wedding was certainly something to focus on.

//////

Broly stared intently at his arm as his mark finished itself.

Father had left him alone again, here on their new hide-out on this doomed planet, New Vegeta. It'd be hours before he came to check on Broly, especially since Broly had overheard that firm leads to the Prince Vegeta's location had finally come to Paragus' ears.

So Broly, after eating his light dinner and making sure some water was at hand, had spent the time sitting on his bed and watching his mark form. It grew out from the odd double mark (careful research told him it was an hour glass, an old-fashioned item of keeping time), darkening and further defining lines to form odd little spirals at the sides of the hour glass though one formed into an odd small mark that looked like a 'C' within another 'C' within a circle. The thin little crown became better defined and the little stone stayed its light shade of purple; faint hints of gold flared out from around it, crawling upwards to being lining around his fingers too.

Black lines formed on his fingers, seeming to suggest shapes but they didn't finish themselves. Broly found that odd but idly thought that perhaps his mark was meant to join with his mate's. He'd heard they could do that sometimes.

But....why had his mark only finished _now?_

Why had so many months gone by with no change and then it just began to itch again as it finished forming?

Broly wished he could speak to someone about this but Father was becoming sharper with him lately and the faceless warriors under Father's command wouldn't speak to Broly. The Shimosians....were best left unmentioned.

Still, it was finished! That must mean that his soul mate was alive somewhere!

….But _where?_

And how would he even search for them, when Father kept him on a tight leash so often and they only had the one space ship?

Perhaps....maybe after this mission....maybe then Broly should tell his Father about the mark. Surely, after he'd gotten his revenge, Father would be open to helping Broly find his soul mate?

Even as he thought it, Broly was careful to not get his hopes up.

Oh....now he had a new problem.

How was he supposed to hide the marks on his hand?

////////

When it finally happened, it was...strangely comfortable.

Though Broly knew that he was supposed to wait in the main hall of the castle to await the arrival of the doomed Prince Vegeta, there was, a kind of, tingly pull of sorts. Whatever it was, it encouraged him to walk out of the castle, easily walking through the crowd of faceless minions that for once got out of his way without protest.

The car had pulled up and his father was staring at him from the driver's side. A short man with spiky black hair was in the front passenger seat and was already making a rather rude comment that was interrupted as the car's lone passenger in the back seat hopped out. The newcomer pulled off his blue half-jacket and tossed it back into the car without a care, and Broly understood, already pulling his left hand out of where he'd hidden it in his sash and moved to pull the bracer off.

The newcomer, a rather pretty individual with soft purple hair, lightly tanned skin, and beautiful pale blue eyes, walked towards him confidently, and Broly had to fight a bit of a blush as they pulled off their shirt, draping it over one arm as they stood before him. Broly's dark eyes quickly zeroed in on the mark that covered most of his soul mate's left shoulder. Seeing the odd flares at the top, he automatically reached out and crossed his left arm over his mate's back to rest his left hand on the other's left shoulder.

Neither of them were surprised to see how the marks on Broly's fingers neatly fit with the rest of the marks on the other's shoulder. They both shuddered a little at the feeling of their marks fitting, an oddly comfortable tingle that ran through their skin. Broly finally broke his locked gaze on the joined marks when a soft, raspy voice spoke to him, “H-hey. My name's Trunks.”

Broly met his mate's gaze and had to swallow his nerves first before replying, “Ah, I'm Broly.”

They smiled at each other and everything just felt so _right_ and _comfortable_ and – and -

Of course the moment was ruined then. The doomed King Vegeta let out a loud, obnoxious groan and yelled at them, “Hey! Take it inside! No one wants to see you two being sappy idiots!”

Trunks did a strange motion, lifting one of his hands to raise the middle finger in the king's direction as he yelled back, “Fuck off, Father! Would it kill you to let me be happy for once?!”

'Father'? Oh, oh this probably wasn't good...

There was a growl from the car, then the king snarled back, “Whatever you damn, brat, but remember your duty to the bloodline, _Princess!_ And who the hell is that anyway?”

Broly shifted where he stood, an unexpected but not unfamiliar annoyance rising in his chest at the situation. Looking at Trunks again, he gently tilted his head towards the castle, “Ah, Trunks, maybe we should go somewhere private to talk?”

Trunks made that odd gesture to the car again, then looked up at Broly with a smile, “Yeah, I think we should. There's, uh, there's a lot we need to cover, I think.”

That sounded like it covered something far more than a general discussion, but Broly simply nodded and turned to lead his mate into the castle, keeping his hand on Trunks' shoulder. For his part, Trunks seemed rather content with it, even stepping closer to Broly so they could walk together more easily and Broly also found himself shortening his stride for the other.

Already they were so easily adjusting to each other and oh, this was going to hurt _so much_ whether he followed through with Father's plans or not, wasn't it?

As they entered the castle, ignoring the background commotion, Broly had to wonder how they could make this work. He didn't want to betray his father but he certainly didn't want to leave Trunks, despite having only just met the other. There had to be some kind of compromise, right?

Oh, if only he knew how weird and complicated the situation actually was....

 

**Author's Note:**

> Chiaotzu being married is canon; his wife is named Ran Ran but we only meet her in one movie. I know, I was surprised too.


End file.
